Personal Narrative: How I Became a Writer Essay -- Narrative Essay Wri

I have found becoming a writer every bit as much a process as writing itself. One does not become a writer overnight but over time, and I offer the following stories as examples of some of the steps I have taken in what is proving to be a life-long process. My initiation into writing was typical of the 1960s, when I began receiving a public education at Elementary School. Writing consisted primarily of penmanship, books reports and research papers, all with highly structured formats as designated by the teacher or by the textbooks the teacher used. Our schools days were equally as structured with class time divided by subject, the major ones being English, math, science and history and the minor ones being gym class, art and music. The terms â€Å"interdisciplinary and â€Å"cross-disciplinary† were not included in the vernacular at that time. English was one of the subjects that, for me, floated to top like cream, while history just didn’t churn my butter. I loved reading fiction and even devoured the rules of grammar, spelling and punctuation, but I detested dry history books and memorizing names, dates and places. When we were instructed to sit quietly and read our history books, I would hold mine standing straight up on my desk and hunker down with something more interesting hidden inside it, like Jane Eyre. Thus I came to appreciate those large history books. By the time I advanced to junior high, my dislike of history was as well-ingrained as my love of English. It seemed this would be the case for the rest of my life, had it not been for an English teacher at John Marshall Junior High. Although the Great Disciplinary Divide continued, as it would throughout high school, this teacher (whose name I don’t recall) chose to ignore i... ...eloped and taught, â€Å"Integrating Technology in the English Language Arts Classroom,† my syllabus stated that the final project and accompanying paper had to demonstrate a grasp of the theory and practice of integrating new technology. Yet such old standbys as grammar, spelling, punctuation and meeting the deadline counted, too. As an instructor, I want my students to appreciate the craft of writing as a serious art, but I also want them to have fun and feel accomplished doing it. Most of all, I want my students to see that there are endless choices available to them as writers and that at any time they can step from the well-worn path to the less-worn one and back again. Contrary to what Robert Frost says, I think it has been my travels on both kinds that has made the difference, thanks to those teachers who guided me along the way. And I am all the better for that.